Barcelona in photos

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On Monday we asked you to join the planned Flashmob “No Pants Subway Ride”. Of course that really meant we had to put our money where our mouth is and take part. And anyway we didn’t want to be the ones missing out on all the fun and just watching from a safe distance.

So on Sunday we grabbed our nicest pair of underpants, shaved our legs (editor: only some of us!), stong-armed our friends into joining us and headed towards Marina. No Pants Subway Ride here we come!.

First, just a short explanation for those who have no idea what I’m talking about or missed our article about the Barcelona No Pants Ride. Barna Mob in conjuntion with Improv Everywhere organised the event with the aim of getting as many people as possible to take their pants off and follow one of 14 routes on the Barcelona Metro.

The event began in New York organised by Improv Everywhere and is now in its 9th year. Since then the event has been organised in more and more cities and this year it was time for Spain with Barcelona and Madrid both showing willing to get-em-off.
Simultaneously the event ran in 43 cities in the world. And we were part of it!I reckon that around 200 people showed up (although 732 were confirmed on the facebook page of the event).

I arrived 20 minutes early but on the way to Marina on the metro had already tried to spot the others who were planning to attend. Around 4pm, the crowd (mainly young and foreign) was gathering and the organiser Barna Mob explained the rules of the game. They handed out Metro plans with 14 different routes spread across the Metro network. The map also indicated the exact time when you were supposed to take you pants off. Our time to get half naked: 16:37pm.

When time was called we all streamed into the Metro, and began our journies which included in our case 3 changes of lines. Smartly (or evil-mindedly) Barna Mob created routes with some of the longest connections to walk.

The clock struck 16:37 when we were just on our way from the yellow line to the blue line. People started staring and wondering why all of the sudden 50 people were taking there pants off. Had they all escaped from a mental institution??

It was a real surprise to see how fast I became comfortable with exposing myself in public. Of course the company of all the other “half naked” passengers did help.

One of the requirements was to act totally normal and do what you would normally do in the Metro. So all the other “exhibitionists” were reading a magazine, playing with their phones or doing crossword puzzles.

The faces of the ordinary metro users were priceless and it took all my self control to not to start laughing.

The end of the line for all routes was Plaza Catalunya and Barna Mob planned it so that we almost all arrived at the same time. So from each exit people were streaming out of the Metro still pantless to assemble in the middle of the square.

It was a once in a lifetime experience and I want to take the chance here to thank Barna Mob for the great organisation and for making it possible and to Fiona our photographer incognito.

Hi Karina,
Thanks for checking it out. It’s nothing heavy or anything, just some short thoughts with a couple of pics
I also enjoy your blog too, been reading all the articles over the last couple of days
Keep well,
Clint